Ann Hunt Spencer Explained

Ann Spencer Pratt
Birth Name:Ann Hunt Spencer
Birth Place:Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Death Place:Canaan, Connecticut
Nationality:American
Field:muralist
Spouse:Lawrence S. Pratt

Ann Hunt Spencer Pratt (1913–1972) was an American painter. She is best known for her New Deal era mural in the Southington, Connecticut Post Office.

Biography

Pratt née Spencer was born in 1913 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1] She attended Sarah Lawrence College and studied at the National Academy of Design. In 1940 she married Lawrence S. Pratt.[2] The couple later divorced.[3]

In 1942 Pratt painted the mural Romance of Southington for the Southington, Connecticut Post Office.The mural was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA).[4] [5] She exhibited her work at the Berkshire Museum, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the National Academy of Design.[3]

Pratt, who had deep red hair, was friends with many artists and often the subject of paintings by them, sitting for example for portraits by Jerry Farnsworth and the author and painter Barbara Comfort. A portrait of her as a 12-year-old girl by Helen Maria Turner sold at auction in 2021 for $40,000.[6]

She died on December 31, 1972, of complications from an aneurysm in Canaan, Connecticut.[3]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ann Spencer Pratt - Biography . AskArt . 15 March 2022.
  2. Web site: Ann H. Spencer Becomes Bride; Married in Ceremony in the Church of Ascension to Lawrence S. Pratt . The New York Times . 15 March 2022 . 9 June 1940.
  3. Web site: Mrs. Ann S. Pratt . The New York Times . 15 March 2022 . 1 January 1973.
  4. Web site: Post Office Mural - Southington CT . Living New Deal . 15 March 2022.
  5. Web site: Artist: Ann Hunt Spencer . New Deal Art Registry . 15 March 2022.
  6. Web site: Sold at Auction: Helen M. Turner, HELEN MARIA TURNER, American (1858-1958), "Portrait of Anne Spencer," c. 1925, oil on canvas, signed and inscribed lower left "Helen.... June 7, 2023.